After the bang

GLOBAL outrage over North Korea’s nuclear tests has been predictable. The UN big powers are calling for strong action against Pyongyang. Even China, North Korea’s staunch ally and supporter for decades, has joined the call for ‘appropriate action’ against Pyongyang.
But what, pray, is the ‘appropriate’ action? Military action is of course out of question. You don’t attack a nuclear weapons state, for God’s sake! Even if the US and its Western allies resolve to hit the North Korean installations, China will not agree to such a dangerous course of action. China is too close to North Korea for comfort. It’s right to insist military action against North Korea is ‘unimaginable’.
This is something that is not lost on the US and company, that preoccupied with Saddam’s Iraq never took the North Korean threat seriously. Which is why the UN is mulling a draft resolution that proposes strict financial and trade sanctions against the country.
But, truth be told, proposed sanctions are hardly likely to make a terrible difference to the already isolated — and insulated — North Korea. As this newspaper has pointed out in the past, UN sanctions have an uncanny habit of punishing ordinary and innocent people while sparing the powers that be. Iraq is a case in point. Years of sanctions against the country after the first Gulf war resulted in great suffering of Iraqi people including thousands of deaths. Do we want to repeat history in North Korea?
Honestly speaking, the world community has no alternative but live with another nuclear weapons state. After all, we had been living with seven of them all these years. Indeed, it is this paradox that must have forced North Korea to develop the Bomb. Apparently, building the Bomb is the only way for a country to protect itself from big powers with a penchant for regime change. Dangerous logic but nonetheless true.
Ironically, if the North Korea has gone ahead and armed itself with nukes, President Bush must take some credit for it. That historic speech of his after September 11 events when he warned the world that "you are either with us, or against us" and promised action against the so-called axis of evil — Iraq, Iran and North Korea — must have convinced ‘dear leader’ he should lose no time to build the Bomb. After all, Iraq was invaded because contrary to US claims and Saddam’s own delusions, it did not have any nukes. And you can’t blame Iran — the third member of Bush’s axis of evil — too if it goes nuclear tomorrow. What we therefore desperately need is not another round of nuclear doublespeak but bold and meaningful steps to rid our world of all weapons of mass destruction.

—Khaleej Times

Method in madness

NORTH Korea has gone ahead and conducted the nuclear test it promised last week — in total defiance of the international community. There are serious implications of Pyongyang joining the club of nuclear weapons states for Asia and the world at large. It is the eighth country — and arguably the most unstable and most dangerous — to develop nuclear weapons.
In doing so, North Korea has not only ignored the calls by its neighbours such as South Korea and Japan but also paid no attention to stern warnings delivered by the US and China, the latter being its close ally and source of all its crucial supplies. In a rare show of unity, the UN Security Council passed a unanimous vote on Thursday warning Pyongyang of serious consequences if it tested the nuclear weapon. All this of course proved pointless with Pyongyang going ahead with the test.
This only goes to show the North Korean regime’s contempt for the world opinion. But then national interests and actions have never been dictated by concerns about global popularity.
In any case, Pyongyang’s action trains spotlight on the clear and present danger our world faces in the reckless regime led by maverick Kim Jong Il. The world community would ignore the ‘Dear Leader’ at its own cost. Paradoxically, this is what he wants, too. Kim wants to be taken seriously by the world, especially by the US, which he loves to hate.
In flaunting his nukes and constant sabre-rattling with his neighbours, the North Korean leader is not only underscoring his nuisance value but is desperately seeking help too. So Kim may be mad but there’s a method in his madness.
It is hardly a secret that North Korea, with all its bravado and excessive arrogance, is in deep trouble in every sense. Isolated from the rest of the world, its economy has collapsed. There are reports of thousands of North Koreans dying of starvation as the country battles the effects of repeated famines. Lucky ones manage to flee to China Korea or South Korea. North Korea is critically dependant on aid from its arch-rival, South Korea, and the UN. This is a country that is going through a grave existential crisis. Which makes it all the more dangerous to its neighbours and the world at large.
This is why the international community will have to deal with the North Korean regime with patience and perseverance. Any punitive action against Pyongyang could further isolate the country and end up punishing its imprisoned people. North Korea’s nukes must be neutralised with diplomacy and persistent engagement with the regime. This is the only way to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in Asia Pacific. And this is the only way to rein in the nuclear North Korea.

—Khaleej Times